The media and politicians lied to us. Again. This will be a blip.
Police did not clear protesters from Lafayette Park for Trump photo op, inspector general findsMichael Collins
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – A government report concludes that federal police did not clear protesters from Lafayette Park near the White House last summer so then-President Donald Trump could walk to a nearby church for a photo op.
The report, released Wednesday by Interior Department Inspector General Mark Lee Greenblatt, says U.S. Park Police and the U.S. Secret Service determined it was necessary to remove protesters from the area in and around the park last June 1, so contractors could install security fencing.
Federal police didn't learn of Trump's plans to walk through the park and examine damage from a fire at St. John's Episcopal Church until mid- to late afternoon – hours after they had begun planning for the security fencing and the contractor had arrived in the park, the report says.
"The evidence we obtained did not support a finding that the USPP cleared the park to allow the president to survey the damage and walk to St. John’s Church,” the report said.
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Federal and military police clashed with protesters and drove them out of the park and nearby streets on the evening of June 1 shortly before Trump walked through the park and stood in front of St. John's to hold up a Bible.
Police used pepper spray and other chemical irritants to clear the park and the nearby streets of protesters, who had filled the area for days in the wake of George Floyd's death in the custody of Minneapolis police.
Shortly after the report was released, Trump issued a statement thanking the inspector general “for completely and totally exonerating me in the clearing of Lafayette Park!”
“As we have said all along, and it was backed up in today’s highly detailed and professionally written report, our fine Park Police made the decision to clear the park to allow a contractor to safely install antiscale fencing to protect from Antifa rioters, radical BLM protestors, and other violent demonstrators who are causing chaos and death to our cities," he said.
According to the report, the Secret Service procured antiscale fencing on the morning of June 1 to establish a more secure perimeter around Lafayette Park. The fencing was to be delivered and installed the same day. Park Police, in coordination with the Secret Service, decided the park and the surrounding area needed to be cleared to enable the contractor’s employees to safely install the fencing.
The report recounts an exchange in which Attorney General William Barr showed up at the park and asked an unnamed Park Police operations commander: “Are these people still going to be here when POTUS (President of the United States) comes out?’”
The operations commander said he hadn’t known until then that Trump would be coming out of the White House and into the park. “He said he replied to the Attorney General, ‘Are you freaking kidding me?’ and then hung his head and walked away. The Attorney General then left Lafayette Park.”
The operations commander later denied that Barr had ordered him to clear the park, the report said, and the inspector general’s investigation found no evidence the attorney general’s visit caused police to change their plans.
Six other law enforcement agencies assisted the Park Police and the Secret Service in clearing and securing the park and nearby area. The operation began at 6:23 p.m. and was finished by 6:50 p.m. Trump walked from the White House through Lafayette Park to St. John’s Church at 7:01 p.m.
At 7:30 p.m., the contractor began assembling and installing the new fencing and completed the work around 12:30 a.m. the next day, the report said.
Greenblatt concluded that Park Police had the authority and discretion to clear Lafayette Park and the surrounding areas. But the report found that, although Park Police used a sound-amplifying, long-range acoustic device to issue three dispersal warnings to the crowd, not everyone could hear the warnings.
The report also concluded that “the USPP and the Secret Service did not use a shared radio channel to communicate” and that “weaknesses in communication and coordination may have contributed to confusion during the operation.”
In addition, the report notes that a contingent from the Bureau of Prisons may have fired pepper pellets into the crowd contrary to park commander’s instructions. The Bureau of Prisons team arrived late at the scene and didn’t hear the commander’s briefing that pepper pellets were to be used only if protesters breached the fence line, the report said.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/06/09/lafayette-park-not-cleared-donald-trump-photo-opp-report-says/7622478002/
